I suppose what I wanted to say, in brief, was that
hentai certainly does portray women as bitches in heat; but it also portrays men as dogs.
I'll explain it a different way again, but the above is really all I wanted to point out. It is true that women are portrayed as starved for sex in hentai, but men are portrayed even more so to be such beastly creatures, so I really don't think it's fair of the women to say that hentai is chauvinistic.
[hide]Consider the following scenario:
A girl goes over to her male friend's house to help him study math. He's in danger of failing the course, so she figures as a friend she'll give him some pointers. When she gets there, the boy's mom brings up some lemonade and cookies but then goes back downstairs. The boy can't concentrate on his studies. All he can focus on are his best friend's massive boobs. He shakes his head and averts his gaze, only now to have his eyes land on her cute little feet curled up under her big, round tush. It looks so squishy and soft, like a pillow or a bra-cup ... NO! I can't think these things! Then he hears a voice. "Ryuu-kun, what's wrong?" His best friend is inches away from his face. He can see her cleavage. He can see her luscious lips. He can smell her coconut perfume. It is intoxicating. And Ryuu-kun loses it. "KYAA!" His friend screams as Ryuu throws her gently to the floor, positions himself on top of her, and clumsily begins to undress her.
Does this story serve to objectify women? Certainly. "Women are good as servants and baby-making machines," Equality Now might say of this comic's message. After all, all the mom did was come up with snacks. All the girl did was have a sexy body. No other skills.
No other skills, though? Is that true? Then what about the guy!? At least the girl was smart at math! At least the girl could pay attention! At least the girl wasn't sex-obsessed like Ryuu was! When it mattered most, all he could think about was her boobs. His best friend's boobs! Wtf, Ryuu! She came over here to help you study and all you can think of is fucking her?
"What's wrong with that depiction of a man?" I can almost imagine someone in Equality Now asking me this question. I can imagine daredemonai scolding me for suggesting they would do this. ^^; But it's true! The depiction of Ryuu-kun is
atrocious. The author, a fellow man himself and writing this comic for men around the world to masturbate to, has made Ryuu out to be a boy who like all teenage boys stereotypically cannot think of anything else but sex, especially not when presented with such a beautiful young lady such as his best friend! There in his bedroom!
If the gender roles were reversed -- and they rarely are in these types of stories, since even the male tutors more often than not are led on by the girls they tutor -- I am sure that EN would raise holy hell. They would object that the woman was being portrayed as a dunce. As a meatsack who is only good for fucking and making babies. "Oh, so the boy gets to be the smart one! The boy has self-control! The boy thinks about things other than sex! We see how it is!"
But they don't because they can't because no such comic commonly exists. The gender roles
aren't reversed. It
is the male who's portrayed as a sex-starved idiot who, on the verge of failing out of mathematics, can think of nothing else besides "1 + 1 = 3." (
Translation: baby-making.)[/hide]